Genocide 100Society

Glendale High students get a lesson on genocides then and now

Glendale High students on Thursday walked through several tents featuring photographs and facts about several genocides, beginning with the Armenian Genocide that began in 1915, the Los Angeles Times reports.

Glendale High sophomore Adam Al-Nihmy volunteered to facilitate students as they learned about massacres that have occurred around the world, and he observed that some of his classmates were unaware of the Cambodian and Rwandan genocides, although many did know about the Holocaust and Armenian Genocide.

The exhibit’s purpose was to bring awareness about past massacres as well as ones occurring today, such as in Darfur.

The organization has brought the exhibit to hundreds of school campuses nationwide since 2006 and partnered with the Armenian National Committee of America to bring the tents to Glendale High this week.

The organization is also rallying behind an effort to pass the Genocide and Atrocities Act of 2016, which would establish a lasting Atrocities Prevention Board to better enhance the United States’ ability to respond and prevent massacres.

Before Glendale High senior Kassandra Figueroa had even finished looking at the exhibit, she said she was growing emotional.

“It would be so hard losing a younger sibling, your parents, just not having anyone,” she said.

The exhibit also addresses “the very thin line between a perpetrator and a bystander,” Scott Stauring said.

“Even though these [genocides] were all orchestrated by men in power, they were carried out by people like you and me. What makes somebody … follow authority blindly?” she asked. “We’re all bystanders if we know what’s going on and we’re not actively doing something.”

Photos by Photo by Raul Roa

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